Improvement in head-blocks fob saw-mills



tnitrh gieten heirat @fitta CHARLES vR.. ELY, oF N ORTHFIELD, VERMONT. Lettera Patent No. 72,380, dated December 17, 1867.

IMPROVEMENT IN HEAD-BLOCKS FOR SAW-MILLS.

TO ALL WHO IT MAY CONCERN:

Be it known that I, CHARLES R.ELY, of Northfield, in the county of Washington, and State of Vermont, have invented certain new and useful Improvementsv in Saw-Mill Gauges; and I do hereby declare that the following, taken in connection with the drawings which accompany and form'part o? this" specitication, is a. description of my invention suicient to enable those skilled in the art to practise it.

This invention relates to the means, shown and' described, for setting lumber, with reference to the saw of a. saw-mill, so that the gauge-faces, which operate to force the lumber toward the plane of the traverse of the saw, 'shall' move parallel ro said plane, and towards/'nd from it, at each movement, such a distance as the sawyer may desire, the distance of such movfement being the'thickuess of the board or plank cut from the log or timber plus the thickness of the saw-korf. The drawings show an'illustrstion of an embodiment of my invention--- 'Figure 1 being an elevation of the side of my apparatus most remote from the saw, and

Figure 2 being a plan of the apparatus. Y

a is the frame, on which my apparatus is mounted, which frame may be a part of the saw-frame, (usually the frame of a circular-saw bench,) or it may be attached to the vsaw-frame, so as to move to feed or carry the timber longitudinally, as well as to serve its special purpose of transverse adjustment of the timber with reference to theplane of the saws movement. On the cross-pieces, b, of this frame are the gauge-rests c, which abut against the material to be sawcd with their. outer vertical faces. Beneath the surfaces of the cross-pieces b, on' which the=gauges c slide, and. arranged parallel with the vertical faces of the gauges, is a rack-bar, d, to

which are connected the inclines e, so that they move with the bar, while, from the gauges, there are forked projections,f, which embraceyupright flanges on the inclines, so that, whenever the bar d and Banged inclines e are moved, movement of the gauges c results, either towards or from the saw, according to the direction of movementimparted to said-bar. Thev incline-plates-e have, in addition to the up-tu-rned flange on their` inclined sides, anges'also on the opposite straight sides.- These llanges serve-a most important purpose, in contributing towards the steadiness of action of the parts, and in insuring against any forcing'of the gauges or knees c out of .true position when in the act of sawing. I y

l The Ranges on the sides which are not inclined ride snugly in grooves in the head1-block, thus absolutely forbidding any motion ot'- the rack or slide in a direction across the frame. The advantage and effect of this novel construction of my double-llanged slide is, that any accidental disposition of the log to get out of truc, when the saw tends to draw on, and the consequent tendency to make an untrue and crooked cut, are prevented, thc down-turned flange holding tight the rackand plate, andy the up-turned flange holding tight the gauge orl knee, so that no-play is allowedv to either. l

The advantages of having the rack and incline rigidly connected together are apparent. One bar thus answers both for the connection, and also as the means for'actuating the inclines, thus dispensing with any additional orcomplicated devices, which-not only increase the liability to derangement,'but also tend to make v the extent of movement of the log at one end vary from that at the other end.

The'simplicity and precision of action with my construction thus enhance, to a great degree, the value -and efficiency of. the machine. The rack, also moving in the same line with Athe nclines, and in the line of its length,has no opportnnity of getting twisted or divertedfrom its correct path, and itpcompelsboth'iuclines toact in perfect harmony with each other, as each must'advance its end or portion of the log precisely the-same measured distance, o,nd at precisely the same instant, and remain at rest for exactly the same length of time.

When two or more racks are u sed, arranged at right angles to the line of the bar which carries the inelines, and not conneetedwith it,va'nd each is impelled by its own pawlvor set of pawls, not only may one rack fail to act in harmony with the other, in lcase the teeth of both are not taken by them simultaneously andacted upon precisely alike, but. the connections of these additional parts also tend to disturb true and uniform movements, for it is self-evident that the greater the number and complications ofthe devices, the less reliance can be placed on getting true movements. i

Furthermore, the arrangement of my rack-bnr so that it can have no motion, exceptin a line parallel with that of the log, positively 'precludes the possibility of one end being pulled out of place, when commencing to saw, in case a knot or crooked grain isencountered. -When,-however, the racks have a motion in a line transverse of the length of'the log, and the saw tends to draw on," it will do so, and draw the rack out of its truc position. My racl: absolutely resists and defeats such disposition to draw on," .and it remains immovable, and

must hold firmly both the inclines and the knees.

The mechanism for imparting movement to the bar d is as follows: The vertical shaft y has upon it a handlcver, z, by which, through any suitable connection convenient to the Sawyer, he is enabled to rock or partially rotate said shaft, which has `also thereupon an arm, seen in dotted lines in fig. 2, which arm takes hold upon a pin fixed in a bar, t', arranged over the rack-bar, so that it can be reciproeated in guiflesj by the rocking move ments imparted to shaft g. In mortises in theI bar z', and capable of free vertical sliding motion therein, are pieces, k, which act ou the rack-teeth as pawls, one set of these pieces being shaped so'as when bar z' is moved, to propel the rack-bar in one direction, while the other, setiis so shaped as to propel the rack-bar in the other direction, as will bc readily understood from inspection of iig. 1. To provide that one set only of the pawls Il: shall be in position to operate on the rack-bar d, both sets of pawls are hung from a pivoted lever, I, the pivot of said lover being between the points of suspension of thc pawls, so that when one set of pawls is placed in gear with the rack-teeth, the other set is necessarily ont of gear therewith. To enable the Sawyer to place either set of pawls in gear with the rack-teeth, and so determine that the gauges shall be brought toward the saw, or shall be carried back therefrom by vibrations of lever h, the bent lever m is arranged so that it can lift' the lever Z, which is weighted at one end, the bent lever m being so connected with the lever n that it'is moved by change of position of n, which is extended so as to be within convenient reach of the sawyer.

It will be obvious, on inspection of the drawings, that the position of lever a determines which of the two scts of pawls, 1:, is in gear with the rack-liar.

Over the lever h is a segment-bar, o, provided with holes and pins, as seen in g. 2,by which the extent of vibration of the lever h can be xed, and, consequently, the amount of movement given to the gauge determined.

,As arranged in the drawings, the pawls marked 7c are the pawls which operate to move the gauges forward to the saw. Y.

To prevent any slipping back ofthe bar,when it is moved by pawls 7s', another set of pawls,p, not connected with the movable bar z', is arranged so that when pawls k are operating, the pawlsp shall also act, hut'simply as dotaining-pawls, and so that, when pawls 7c are in operation, to move back the gauges, the pawlsp canbe lifted clear of the rack-bar by means of the laver q.

As amatter of convenience, when sawing rstock of various thicknesses, I arrange a scale-bar, r, so that it can be rotated to show the various scales marked on the several sides lof the bar, so that any scale desired may be brought adjacent to the index-finger s, which moves with the rack-bar and iuelines.

The holes in the segment are so made that, by shifting the. pins therein, andvvibrating the lever h so that Y it shall strike against both pins, given and desired movements ofthe gauges may be obtained forY the cutting of any given and desired thickness of boards .or planks from the lumber operated upon, or the pins may be dispensed with, and the index-finger and scale-bar may be relied upon to determine the distance moved by the gauges.

'.lo move forward thc gauges, raise, byA means of lever n, the weighted end of lever Z, and then the pawls k', being in gear with the rack-bar d, vibration of lever h will move,thc gauges forward at each double stroke of lever h, a distance determined by the position of the pins in the segment o, or a distance determined by' observation of the index-finger s, against a scale on tho'bar r.

To move back the gauges, drop the weighted end of lever l, by movement of lever n, raise the detainingpawls p, and vibrate lever t. i

1. I claim, in combination with the transverse gauges of a saw-mill, `the position of which determines theV thickness of the material cut from the stock, the pawls k and c, when arranged to operate substantially as described. l I

2; Also, a rack-bar, carrying two or more inclines rigidly secured thereto, substantially as and for the purpose set forth. h

3. Also, the plates, constructed substantially as described, having a flange turned up in one direction on the inclined side,.and a. {lange turned parallel witlr the rack-bar on the straight side, and applied substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

d. Also, in combination with the pawls le', the detaining-pawls p, when constructed andarranged to operate, in connection with inclines and gauges, substantially as described.

5. Also, the combination of the pawls c It, their traversing-bar, and their supporting-lever, with the lever lz, and its indicating-segmentfand pins, constructed. and operating substantially as described.

G. Also, in combination with the transverse gauges, the index-ngcr and rotary scale, constructedand operating substantiallv as set forth. CHARLES R. ELY.

Witnesses:

PnnLnY BELKNAP, GEORGE M. FIsK. 

